Just as low gas prices are pushing consumers to upgrade their fuel and cigarettes, they are also encouraging a move toward premium beers. C-store sales of imports, driven by Mexican brands, rose more than 16% in 2015, according to Nielsen. Flavored malt beverages rode innovation to an 8.5% increase. And microbrews or craft beer, while supplying only 4.6% of c-store beer sales, had the biggest dollar and unit growth increase in 2015.
That said, one subcategory remains king of the beer cooler.
“Don’t take your eye off the ball: The premium subcategory has 50% of the sales,” said Andy Jones, president and CEO of Sprint Food Stores, Augusta, Ga. NACS SOI data shows premium with nearly four times the sales and more than three times the gross profits as the next beer subcategory.
“You really need to watch how much space you allocate to some of the smaller subcategories if you have limited space in your stores,” he said.
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